Bullish on MORE Power expansion

By Herbert Vego

WILL MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) be given the chance to expand electricity distribution to the 1st District of Iloilo?

MORE Power, Iloilo City’s distribution utility, has already gained an additional franchise to energize Passi City and 15 towns in the province.

Further expansion to the 1st District municipalities of Miag-ao, Guimbal, San Joaquin, Igbaras, Tubungan, Oton, and Tigbauan is what Rep. Janette Garin’s House Bill 7647 is all about. It seeks to amend Republic Act No. 11212, which awarded MORE Power a franchise to distribute electric power to Iloilo City, and Republic Act No. 11918, which expanded its franchise to include Passi City and 15 municipalities in Iloilo.

Since six of them — Alimodian, Leganes, Leon, San Miguel, Pavia, and Santa Barbara — are already being served by ILECO 1, it goes without saying that the MORE Power — ILECO 1 competition has already kicked off in these service areas, notably in Pavia, where some ILECO 1 customers have already shifted to MORE Power, where the latter’s power lines have emerged.

Having passed the House of Representatives, Garin’s bill is now in the hands of the Senate for corresponding approval.

It is not meant to kick the old Iloilo I Electric Cooperative Inc. (ILECO 1) out of business. It hinges on the assumption that a “friendly competition” between the two would be preferable to a monopoly. As the saying goes, “Competition pushes us to do our best.”

However, is ILECO 1 in a position to survive the competition?

At present, it has around 85,000 consumers in the 1st District of Iloilo, while MORE Power has 105,000 in Iloilo City alone.

What if ILECO 1 loses more or less 50% of its 1st District customers to MORE Power on the question of efficiency?

As noted by the Institute of Contemporary Economics in a position paper, MORE Power’s takeover in Iloilo City in the past six years has dropped the distribution system’s losses from 30% to around 7%.

When a distribution utility loses 30% of what it transmits to line leakage, aging equipment, and theft, it adds to the power bill that each consumer pays.

The Institute of Contemporary Economics position paper calls on the Senate to face the economic reality that the municipalities of the 1st District are functionally integrated with Iloilo City through commuting patterns, agricultural supply chains, tourism, and logistics.

While the Institute of Contemporary Economics lauds ILECO 1 for what it has accomplished in rural electrification in the 1st District and several other towns in more than five decades, it faces institutional constraints in mobilizing the kind of private financing MORE Power can afford in a rehabilitation program.

It is no secret that MORE Power is one of the many companies owned by billionaire Enrique K. Razon, who has the “unli” resources to modernize the Philippine power industry. In contrast, as admitted by the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, the 121 electric cooperatives rely on private financing and expert management for sheer survival.

If I may say my two cents’ worth in the event the Garin bill transitions into law, it would be prudent for ILECO 1 to enter into a joint venture agreement with MORE Power.

As reported in the streamlined media, MORE Power President and CEO Roel Z. Castro would welcome that win-win alternative.

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MISSING THE OLD JEEPNEY

EVEN Americans now living in the Philippines decry the phaseout of traditional passenger jeepneys to give way to air-conditioned modernized jeepneys.

One of them is my friend Victor B. D’Agostino, 80, a retired American Navy soldier who now lives in his retirement home here in Iloilo City with his Filipina wife, Ciony.

At age 18, he fell in love with the iconic jeepney during a visit to the New York World’s Fair in New York City in 1964.

The Philippines, as one of the 80 participating nations in the fair, had a pavilion that displayed native products, including two Sarao jeepneys.

“Amazing,” he described the kind of vehicle that he had never seen before.

The Philippine jeepney is known worldwide as an iconic, vibrant, colorful, and historically significant mode of public transport with longitudinal seating that evolved from American military jeeps after World War II.

Iloilo City used to be an active body builder of jeepneys.

Sayang, pinapatay natin ang sariling atin.